CAMY (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth) Receives Award for “Worst Press Release of the Year”

The Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) at George Mason University was so impressed with the contorted spin that CAMY gave in the following press release that it awarded it the prize for “Worst Press Release of the Year.”:

Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Statement Regarding Findings of the
Latest Monitoring the Future Survey Data on Youth Drug Use

-Statement attributable to David H. Jernigan, PhD, Executive Director,
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University

“Three years ago, the Institute of Medicine found that from 1993 to 2002 we had not made much progress in reducing underage drinking. The good news today from Monitoring the Future is that between 2001 and 2006, we have made progress and it seems to be holding. At the same time there are storm clouds on the horizon. Excessive drinking by youth remains unacceptably high. In 2006, one in nine eight graders, one in five tenth graders and more than one in four twelfth graders reported binge drinking in the past two weeks. Thirty percent of high school seniors were drunk in the past month.
Cleary, we cannot settle for the progress we have made and need to do more. The 41% increase in youth exposure to alcohol advertising on television between 2001 and 2005 is troubling. The more ads kids see, the more likely they are to drink and drink more. All of us, including alcohol advertisers, need to do more to protect our youth.”

STATS summarizes the illogical spin of CAMY‘s news release:

Underage drinking declined, significantly, during a time when kids experienced a massive increase in exposure to alcohol advertising; but “the more ads kids see, the more likely they are to drink," (sic); therefore, alcohol advertisers “need to do more to protect our youth.” i